k wrote:
ibenez wrote:
THE US military wants to buy large quantities of anthrax, in a controversial move that is likely to raise questions over its commitment to treaties designed to limit the spread of biological weapons
Very odd.
For one, I would approve of our military buying the stuff, since I'm willing to bet money noone else abides by the non-proliferation agreements - especially muslim countries who wish to kill us.
However, why would we need this? I mean, ... I dunno, seems like we have much more effective weapons that are quicker - like nuclear bombs.
So, I'm ok with us buying it, just don't really understand the reason.
[ I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that the purchase was for testing response measures and capabilities of our systems to destroy the sutff that *is* harmful (they bought a strain that is not known to be harmful to humans) since, yes, other people likely possess some stores of the actually dangerous kind.
I'm pretty much 100% against the use of biological and chemical weapons, because they're so likely to be indiscriminate. I *am* 100% against weapons that are particulalry suited to be used against civilians, because I consider killing non-combatants to be highly dishonorable. I'm not talking about when 10 civilians die in a strike which kills a large number of soldiers, or in a strike against a military target which we could not reasonably expect to be full of civilians. I don't like it, but i understand that there will always be civilian casualties. But biological, chemical and *most* nuclear weapons are in a class which makes them especially useful against urban centers and therefore civilians. That's why they're so sought after by terrorists, of course. Their willingness to use them is, to my mind, an especially good reason for us to reject them. Otherwise, we simply become bigger, stronger terrorists. ]
I totally agree with you. The only civilian killing weapon I favor is the nuclear weapons. I mean, it would be better if the technology didn't exist, so in that sense I agree with you - but since it does we need to have the most and biggest baddest ones on the block so we can delete mass quanities of land and people at a time when the shiznit hits the fan.
